The Windrunner Chronicles
by Cali Windrunner
Summary: Cali Windrunner and family have crash landed on Corneria and have no clue what to do. StarFox learns that Cali could be of use to them, but will he help? Please Read and REview, even if it is a quick one.
1. Lost

Chapter 1 Lost

Date: Unknown,

The darkness of space seemed so bleak to Cali right now. The darkness was only canceled out by the light emanating from a nearby blue planet.

"Is anyone out there?" he said softly into the microphone attached to his headset. "This is a distress call." There was sadly no answer. He clicked a few buttons on the control panel on the helm of the ship he was piloting.

"Is there anyone out there? Can you hear me?"

He waited for a second…

"Yes, we are receiving your transmissions. This is Sergeant Bill Grey of the Cornerian army. State your purpose this sector."  
"This is Cali Windrunner of the cruiser Tempest 2, the ship is in need of emergency assistance. Requesting landing rights on the nearest planet, with medical and fire suppression crews available upon landing."

"What happened to your ship? Is the fire controlled right now?" Grey asked

"The ship was thrown off course during an accident; I don't know exactly what happened. Upon finally regaining control of the ship, I found myself in the middle of a meteor storm. The ship got pounded and I have lost all but minor control of the lateral wings. As far as the fire goes, call it preemptive measures."

"Standby" Grey commanded

"I didn't know there was life out here." Cali said to himself.

"Your request has been granted. Medical crews will be waiting. We will guide you down. Slow down to half impulse and turn to heading 298.09. How many crew members are there?"

"Thank you, I am the only crew member, but I am unable to slow down or make the necessary heading adjustments. I have only compression thrusters to slow me down, but they won't do any good in the atmosphere. "

"Then we'll guide her down using tow cables. Stand by for attachment."

The ship shook a bit as the cables were fixed to the hull. The lines went taught and the ship changed direction. Cali braced himself and locked in the restraints on his seat. The ship started to shake wildly as it entered the atmosphere of the large blue planet. Pieces of the ship could be seen breaking off as it flew into the different layers of the atmosphere, forming a large fireball. All of the ships let go of their tow cables in fear of being damaged.

"I can see the aft section of the ship starting to break apart, be prepared to eject." Grey called out as he flew next to the cockpit window.

"I can't do that."

"Why?"

"I am carrying 4 other passengers that are in a state of cryo-stasis. I have to take this thing down as carefully as I can." Cali said making a few adjustments on the com-panel and pulling back on the main control stick to try and get the ship to drop in nose-up.

"Shit, the landing gear isn't going down. Looks like I will have to slide her in."

The ship shook horribly as it rumbled through the air over many tall skyscrapers. He spotted the air strip about a mile or two away and knew that he wouldn't make it. The ship was hitting the tall trees, snapping them like twigs. The ship wasn't very large, only about 80 meters long and 25 meters tall and no more than 20 meters wide. In a situation like this though, size made no difference when it was moving this fast. The belly of the ship made contact with the ground and gouged out a massive ravine as is slowed down to a stop, resting on its nose.

"Get the Medical teams to the crash site as quickly as possible. Until then, squad, we need to get down there and check on them."

The other ships all radioed in and confirmed the command and landed by the creaking shell of what was once a rather nicely designed ship. Bill jumped out of his craft with his weapon drawn. He didn't really know what he was dealing with, yet. He pulled on the outside hatch and backed up as it fell to ground with a clank. He looked at his squad and gave the signal to have 3 of them enter and clear the room.

"Clear, sir" said one of them.

The interior was badly damaged. Com-panels and other instruments thrown around the ship made it look like someone threw a bomb into it. Grey noticed 4 cylinders on the far back wall. He climbed the now steeply angled floor to reach the tubes. He wiped away some of the debris from them and saw what looked like a female wolf inside. His concentration was interrupted when he heard…

"Sir I found the pilot. He appears to be dead."

"Damn," he said as he hopped back down to see Cali badly cut up and blood coming out of his mouth.

"Let's get him and these others out of this thing before it collapses. I'll take this one and you men get those tubes open and get those people out of here." Grey said as he reached down and pulled up on Cali's shirt. A movement made the Sergeant suddenly drop the body. Cali grunted as his chest hit the panel. He coughed u pa bit of blood as he struggled to get his bearings.

"Get the medics!"

"I'll be fine…" Cali said, "But you can't… (Cough) Don't move the tubes. They have to… (cough) be moved carefully."

"We don't have much time here. This ship is going to fall apart soon." He said helping Cali stand.

"I can tell," Cali said as he wiped blood away with his left arm, "That makes no difference. They are in cryo-stasis, I need to shut down the system before they can be moved, otherwise, they will…" He couldn't say the last word.

"Ok, can you get the system shut down?"

"Yeah, but I need to find something first."

"Such as?" Grey questioned.

"My other arm." He said pulling his half right arm up.

"Oh god. Where are those medics?"

"Don't worry it comes right off all the time, or rather it has been lately." The Sergeant looked closer and saw some sort of mechanical implant on the nub of the forearm.

"Ah got it." Cali said as he clicked it to his arm and the Sergeant watched as the arm piece melded right with his skin.

"Amazing." Grey said.

"Not half as amazing as the fact that the power is still on in here." Cali said as he stood over one of the back panels. He pressed a few buttons and all of the tubes slowly lowered to the ground and gave a mild hissing noise.

"The medics are here, Sir," said one of the watchmen outside the ship.

"Tell them to bring stretchers, or anything that can haul a body." Cali yelled, "Come help me… I'm sorry; I don't know your name."

"Sergeant Bill Grey, I told you when we first made contact."

Cali brought his right hand up and rubbed his hair back, ruffling his pseudo-mowhawk. "Sorry I must have hurt my head when I crashed." He said sounding somewhat destroyed, like it was a worthless endeavor to even keep going.

"It's alright, you have done very well considering. I really shouldn't be letting you do this, you shouldn't be moving right now until you have been checked out."

"Yeah well, no offence, but who would take care of my family? You?"

Bill just stood there with a mildly lost look. No one had ever really snapped at him like that before.

"Sorry, would you just come and help me; I need to get these tubes open."

Bill obliged and walked over to one of the tubes. Cali threw him a metal pry bar that was on the floor.

"Just pop the tube open a little bit and let the air escape then open it all the way so I can grab each one."

Complying with the direction he opened the first tube and a tall female wolf fell out. As he laid her down she started to stir a bit.

"Where…where am I?"

"It's all right mother, we have landed and everyone is being woken up." He said holding her head up. She slightly smiled and closed her eyes as she passed out. The medics quickly picked her up and placed her on the gurney and took her out to the waiting transport craft.

"Can you guys continue? I need to go sit down," Cali asked. He stepped out after receiving a nod from the Sergeant. He sat down on the destroyed door watching for a minute as his family was brought to the transport ship. He put his hands over his eyes and dropped his head. He wiped his eyes and looked down at his right arm. He rubbed it a bit and matted the fur down a bit.

"Everyone is out and we need to get you onto the ship too."

"Alright, thank you for all your help. I can't believe it."

"Can't believe what?"

"Everything, I mean, for one I never expected to come upon life out here, nonetheless have it look like me, then my ship crashes. We now have no home, money, food or anything. All of our work has been destroyed and who knows if I can recover any of it…"

Bill noticed that Cali was starting to get really agitated and saw that his fur was standing straight up.  
"MEDIC!!" He called out as he watched Cali start to black out.

"Damn" Cali sighed as his eyes closed. His body fell forward and in only a moments time he was completely out of it.


	2. Past Lives

Chapter 2 Past Lives.

Cali sat bolt upright, woken out of a slumber by something that caught his ear. Or so he thought. Once his eyes focused, he realized he was alone in a room that could only assume was in a hospital, though this one seemed really comfy. It wasn't at all like the hospitals that he had been in before. This one seemed more like home. He slowly turned his body and put his feet on the ground. His body hurt but he couldn't be focused on that right now, he had to find the rest of his family. As his paws hit the floor he realized just how nice this place was, the tile floor seemed to be heated and his feet felt good as he slowly gained his balance on it. He noticed the tall window only a few feet in front of him. After a few steps toward it he noticed just where he was. He had passed over this very building as the ship landed on this strange planet. He looked out and guessed that he was roughly 60 stories up.

"Such a tall building." He said to himself quietly.

"And you are not even on the top yet," came a voice behind him. He whipped around saw a tall female rabbit.

"Who are you," he asked somewhat winded from the shock.

"Don't worry, I am just the nurse. You set off the alarm at the front desk." The nurse said. Cali looked down and noticed the clasp that was on his finger was missing the wire.

"Usually people take that thing off before they get up. You're the first to rip it right out of the cord that it was attached to." Cali just looked down in slight shame. This was gonna cost him.

"Where is my Family?"

"Don't worry they are fine." Cali didn't really find that statement to be all that appeasing to his mind. He walked straight for the door.

"Can't let you do that," the rabbit said as she pushed a button and the door closed abruptly in front of him.

"You have no right to hold me here." Cali snapped.

"No, I don't have the right, but I figured that it would be better for you to walk around in something other than your birthday suit. Your pants are in the top drawer." She smiled lightly as he realized that he was indeed not wearing anything at all. Not as though it would make a difference, he was covered in fur, but he gladly put on his tattered pants. They were at least clean now. The hospital must've had them cleaned, though they didn't bother to get them sewn up, but at least most of the blood stains were gone. The door opened again and he stepped out into the hallway. Many of the people there stood just staring at him like he was diseased. Even some of the patients looked on. The commotion became the main interest of the sergeant who had come to check on the new cosmic travelers. He hadn't really noticed that Cali stood at 6 foot 9, almost a full foot above everyone and if Cali had noticed that, he would have probably understood what all the looks were about.

"How are you this morning?"

"Besides a bit hungry, I need to see my family," Cali said firmly.

"Not to worry they are being well taken care of. They are getting a bit of extra care."

"What kind of EXTRA care?"

"Things like needed Fluids, a bit of a cleaning, and a full health evaluation by our top doctors. Come with me, I'll show you." Bill said turning and walking down the hall. After a few minutes they arrived at a large viewing window that overlooked a very large room where the rest of his family was at. They were all still sleeping in their beds.

"So now that you can actually talk without worrying, how about a bit of back-story on you and the rest of your Ahem Clan?"

"Well to be honest, we are all refugees. We were all, in a sense, banished from our homeworld, though we really left due to the fact that things were not going good there, to say the least."

"Well that aside, who is everyone down there? The Hospital needs the info for their records anyway."

"Well, I will give you the gist of them. The one on the right is Angel, my…our mother. She is our equivocal medical officer, though she really only knows how to take care of basic medical needs, like cuts and illness."

"A kiss from mother to sooth the pain?" Bill quipped.

"Amazingly enough, yes. It has always helped, even on the eldest of us. But that is for another time."

Bill lightly hummed, giving Cali the cue to move on.

"The second one is my twin brother, Zeke, though he doesn't quite look like I do anymore. He is basically our weapons specialist and a hard fighter, though he is really just a gun freak."

"Genetic differences?"

"No, he stayed the same in the cryo tube, while I aged. The other female there is my sister, Rem."

"She looks more like a fox than a wolf," Bill questioned.

"Her genetic makeup is a bit skewed. She is fully my sister, both our parents are the same, but she ended up getting a recessive gene that actually made her more of a mained wolf than a grey like us. Rem is like our navigations expert. She seems to be like a homing beacon for us."

"Hmm" Bill hummed again. He seemed to be more interested in Cali's knowledge of this rather than what was actually said.

"The last one is my little brother, Arcamisk, but we just call him Arc."

"What is his position?"

"He is somewhere between Chief Science officer and nerd. If it can be built and tampered with, or if it can be created from the ground up with limited parts, he is the one to find out how to do it…" Cali was abruptly interrupted by a clanking noise and a sudden pain in his foot. He looked down to see that his arm had again fallen off.

"Damn it, looks like he has something else to fix now too."

"Your little brother built this?"

"Yeah, it is quite something. The node on my arm is attached to the nerves and they give it the electrical impulses that my brain would give to my real arm. Though as of late the clamps on it seem to be getting shorted out." Cali said reaching down and picking it up and setting it back on the connector.

"And what are you in this whole group?"

"I am of no importance." Cali said as he stepped towards the door that lead into the room they had been over looking.

"Well, he is obviously the pilot, but he is something else." Grey said to himself as he turned and walked away.


	3. The Wreckage

CHAPTER 3 The Wreckage.

Cali looked back at Bill as he stepped into the room where his parents were. He moved silently down the stairs and towards the chair in the middle of the room where the nurse was sitting.

"How are they?" he asked.

"Doing fine, just a bit lagged from everything."

"Any clue as to when they will wake up?"

"They have already awoken. They are just in normal sleep right now. They were all up earlier and walking around the place." The nurse said with a smile.

"I want to thank you for taking such good care of them." Cali said bowing his head in thanks.

"Cali?" said a voice coming from behind him. He turned and saw his little sister sitting up in her bed. He couldn't help but smile. Even though she was so different from the rest of the family, he always felt like he was closest to her. She reached out and grabbed hold of him and hugged as soon as he was close enough.

"Hey little fox, how are you doing?"

"Doing ok, I was worried when I didn't see you in here with us. I thought…"

"No thoughts like that, I was taken to another ward for my check over. I passed after I got you all out of the tubes."

She just kind of looked at him with a bit of shock, she had never seen him even get hurt let alone to the extent of passing out. Though she could understand why from looking at his face.

"Cali… you've got… Come here." She motioned for him to come a bit closer as she grabbed the washcloth next to her. With a quick rub the blood that stained his muzzle and cheek washed away.

"Hmm, I thought my fur felt odd."

"I have one question for you though, what happened to your hair? You don't look at all like Zeke anymore." She said as she ran her hands through his now long hair. It extended down to the middle of his back with odd horizontal black stripes mixed in with the normal silver of his fur.

With a quick dart, his eyes looked around and then looked back at his little sister.

"I'll tell you that one later. Now you have to do me a favor. I am going to find a way to get back to the ship, I need to get our stuff, so if anyone asks you can tell them that I am alright and I will be back later."

Rem nodded as Cali stepped towards the door.

The main doors to the hospital opened as Cali walked out to take his first look at the place that he was now resigned to call home.

"Windrunner…" a voice behind him called. Cali turned around to find a young uniform clad soldier coming up to him. The 5 foot 9 inch black and grey badger ran up and stood right in front of him.

"May I help you?" Cali asked. Though as he thought about that statement, he realized that it was probably the worst thing to say, seeing as he was stepping on the ground of the planet for only the second time since his arrival.

"I am Corporal Ackhor Biggers. Master Sergeant Grey told me to assist you as needed."

"He seems to know my every move before I make it." Cali said turning around and taking a step away.

"He does that, he has a tendency towards planning for things that some people don't think of, still the offer stands." Biggers said as he stepped up next to Cali.

"Well I need to get back to my ship. I need to try and recover anything that I can and sell whatever I can for what I can get."

"The Sergeant also gave me a rather sizeable amount of money and there will be some resources available for you from the General. He finds your situation of great interest to him."

"Just get me to my ship and I'll deal with everything else as it comes, though this does sound like a soft-science nightmare movie script." Cali half joked.

Biggers just stood there rather confused. After about fifteen seconds of Biggers and Cali staring at each other, Biggers stepped out and lead the way to his vehicle.

Within only twenty minutes they had arrived and Cali got the chance to see the true extent of the damage done when he landed. The whole tail section was sticking almost 50 feet in the air while the entire thing rested almost completely on the nose. There were, to Cali's amazement, about 15 people there prepping to drop the back end down so as to make cleanup easier. He watched as the entire back slowly lay out on the ground, the ships above straining just a bit to stay steady, but still doing quite well. With a light hissing the transport ship that they had taken landed about 100 yards or so from hulking mass of wreckage.

"Well at least the damage is mostly concentrated on the front of the ship." Cali said stepping down the ramp of the dropship.

"Don't be so sure, the underside took quite a beating and it will require some extensive repairs." Said one of the works that happened to overhear Cali. "Sorry if I was eaves dropping, but it is hard not to sometimes, the name is Calen, Tsu Calen." The 6 foot Chipmunk's ears twitched a bit as he extended a hand out to greet him.

"Nice to meet you, but why are you here, besides to level out a possible death risk?" Cali said apprehensively reaching out and shaking Calen's hand.

"We are here to help you. We are all from the town you passed over on your way in. Everyone is a voulunteer here, we just kind of act like the welcome wagon."

One of Cali's eyebrows raise up a bit giving Calen a look of questionable disbelief.

"Ok then, well I'll leave them to you. I need to get into the main control room." He said walking towards the ship.

"But what do you want them to do? The only thing we thought about doing is leveling the thing out so that it would be safer." Calen called out.

"Then send 5 of them out to recover every piece of scrap that fell off from here to your town, have a few of them head into the main control room and I'll have them do some stuff with me and send a few out for food for everyone." Calen smiled and followed as he was ordered. Cali turned and looked at Biggers for a minute before speaking up.

"As for you, son, head out to your next duty station. Everyone will be fine here, besides, I hate having the military breath down my neck."

"Son? I beg your pardon?" Biggers jumped, obviously a bit annoyed. "I don't think you have any wherewithall to speak down to me, especially since we seem to be of same age, none the less that I am a highly ranked military soldier."

"Tell me a few things, how old are you and how many hours in a day and how many days to your year?"

"If you must know, I am 4, there are 24 hours to our day and 3286 days in our year."

Cali paused before saying, "So your 4, and how long do most people live on this planet?"

"Most live to be about 18, some have lived as long as 22."

"Ok well, let me clue you in on my age. You are 4 making you about 37 on my home planet, and most of the people on this planet live to be about 160-200 on my planet. I am 487 on my planet. Take a guess at my age on this planet if you take into account the day diffences."

Biggers just looked on.

"That makes me 54 on this planet. So as far as age goes, I am a bit older than you, and as far as the military rank goes, yes you have me there. Now if you don't mind, I need to get to my ship to fix it."

Biggers mouth just about dropped to the ground. He shook his head a bit and headed back to the ship.


	4. Her

Chapter 4 Her

The day passed by rather quickly that day as the entire ship was made safe and all the debris, inside and out, was removed, but there was still so much more to do. The towns-people had all left for the night, assuring Cali that more would be back in the morning. Finally Cali was alone and he could get to work on the delicate power supply and routing it to make the computers functional again. There was still another 3 hours of daylight left so he had to work quickly or he would have to wait until tomorrow to finish and time was against him here. Cali climbed over the pile of debris to reach the main entrance to the hulking piece of scrap. Once inside he headed for the aft section where the living quarters and engine rooms were. He walked down the hall way assessing the damage and the possible repairs that could be done. The ship would never be perfect again, but it could be useable once fixed. He opened the door to his former room and looked around, amazingly enough the cabin was rather well intact. Next to nothing had fallen or broken. He opened one of the drawers and smiled lightly as he pulled out a small thin square with a screen on it.

"Perfect," he said. This would make everything a bit more enjoyable. He headed back to the hall and continued on the way he was heading until he reached the main systems room. Inside was one large room that was as tall as the ship and almost 20 square meters in width. It was just a bit larger than the main control room. He looked up from the bottom floor to see this massive drive that extended up to the ceiling.

"No time like the present," He thought as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the little black square and turned it on. One little drawer popped out and revealed two little rubber circles that Cali readily took out and placed in his ears. After hitting a few buttons he bobbed his head a bit and placed the square in his pocket once more before walking the room. The main drive seemed to be in pretty good condition, but many of the wires had come loose and were simply hanging, or rather swinging slightly. He got to work without waste.

Time passed rather quickly as he worked and the sun was very near the setting point, but it was of no worry now. Power had been restored to 90 of the ship. Some of the control room's computers and panels had been knocked out so that was what Cali set out to work on next; unaware of what lay around the corner for him.

The darkening sky faded from a nice light orange and purple to near pitch black in a rather short time. The last remaining beams of light shot across the grassy landscape towards the closest town where a single reddish brown figure came walking from. The darker it got, the closer the figure got to Cali's position. As the last shimmer of the system's sun fell behind the mountains in the distance, the figure had arrived at the ship and had taken notice of the open door.

Cali was no where to be found but his voice could be heard emanating from the front of the ship. The figure could hear it and headed towards the voice, removing the hood that covered its face. Upon reaching the main control room, it looked around trying to find the direction the voice, which was now singing was coming from, finding nothing but wires on the ground.

"I'm floating down a river. Oars freed from their hole long ago. Lying face up on the floors of my vessel, I marvel at the stars and feel my heart overflow." Cali sang rather loudly, still nowhere to be found.

It suddenly became apparent where the voice was coming from, from the sound of the singing getting closer; the figure looked up and saw as the Silver wolf came dropping down from the dome on the roof. With a slight jerk he stopped just before slamming face first on the ground. He hung there for a second, being held in midair by a single rope tied around his waist, before grabbing the wire at the feet of the intruder. His mind really didn't take notice of it. He reached his hand up and grabbed the rope as he hauled the wire up to the dome well over 50 meters up into the air, all the while singing.

"I'm building an antenna. Transmissions will be sent when I am through."

He placed the wire on a hook and looked down over the magnifying glasses at the intruder. He let the rope the held him aloft loose and he fell face first back down, this time getting his feet caught and hanging upside down, staring at her feet.

"Maybe we could meet again further down the river and share what we both discovered and revel in the view," he sang the last line as he hung there looking at the furson that had invaded his ship. It was a rather stunning looking fox of a wolf. He stopped singing for a second to look her over from top to bottom. Her legs were long and trim as was her midsection with a very slight inward curve. Her face was three different shades of red and brown, with the brightest aqua colored eyes he had ever seen. Her hair was about mid back length and was a soft shade of luminescent brown. It flowed lightly over her shoulders and created a heart shape that enveloped her face. She just looked down at his face in mild shock.

The silence was broken by both of them trying to speak at once.

"Hello," They both said, stopping afterward waiting for the other to speak. Cali just looked on and smiled, still hanging there starting to get a slight spin in his form.

"Umm, you seem to be busy," was the only thing she could think of before realizing that she had probably said the dumbest thing in her life, but she didn't quite expect the response that she got.

"Nah, I'm just hanging out or in this case around," he said as his body turned sideways to hers. She let out a laugh for a second before stifling it in mild wonder if she did something wrong.

"Give me a second," he said as he reached up and flipped himself upright, letting his feet loose and placing them on the ground and slipping out of his noose.

"Now then…" he paused slightly adjusting his shirt then reaching out his hand for hers, "I am Calico Windrunner."

She slowly, if not a bit hesitantly, reached out and grabbed his hand, "I am Shira."

"Nice to meet you" he said as he cupped her hand in his and bowed his head at her. She felt a little better at this gesture, though she couldn't quite tell why.

"I have to ask, why would you come all the way out here in the evening by yourself, especially since you don't know what kind of person you would run into?" Cali asked.

"Well Calico, I have some food for you. I saw the lights from my house." She said with a slight quiver.

"Well thank you. That whole little town is rather nice. Everyone has been helping me today."

"Yeah my father was here with that group, he was the one who sent me."

Cali was a bit speechless, but still quite thankful as all the food that had been stored was now rotten due to the power being down for so long.

"What did you bring," he asked with a slight inflection of excitement.


	5. Fight or Flight

Chapter 5 Fight or flight.

Shira rummaged through the bag that she had brought.

"Looks like there is some meat…of some sort. There's a bit of vegetables and some crackers."

Cali smiled a bit and showed her to the dining area. He grabbed a few things off the table tossed them aside as they both sat down at the tall chairs that were bolted to the floor. Shira unpacked the food as Cali just looked on patiently.

"So your father just sent you out with this stuff for me?"

"Well it was actually half and half. I was interested to see this, it's not everyday that we see a ship from a planet outside our system crash land only a mile or so from our town. I was mostly interested when he said the technology in here is far beyond what we normally use."

"Well this ship is 120 years of hard work. Time that me and my family wouldn't have traded for the world."

Shira stood there in complete shock at hear the amount of time that it took to make.

"You mean that you and your family before you made this." Shira said trying to pull apart the timeline of his life.

"Not quite, I started it before they got into it. Time progressed and we had to move the entire project underground due to the problems that plagued it. The longer it took, the less chance we knew we would have to escape."

"Problems," she asked.

"The planet was in danger and we could no longer stay there. I was the only one who knew though. The family just thought that we were going to leave for the sake of seeing a new planet."

"So you are now homeless?"

"Pretty much. I know that we will figure out something though. As it is, I will be staying here tonight."

"Where is your family?" Shira's concern becoming audible to Cali.

"They are at the hospital right now. I have no transportation, so I kind of have no choice."

"You could stay with my father and I tonight. We have an extra room that is never used and I know that it will be warmer that this ship."

A slight flicker in her eyes kind of told Cali that this was not the kind of person that took no for an answer.

"I wouldn't want to impose. I mean you guys have already done so much for me."

"It wouldn't be a problem. Besides we don't get many visitors, so this will be a welcoming change." Shira said as she stood up from the table and grabbed Cali's hand, leading him to the door.

"I need to shut the power down first." He said while slightly resisting her. Doing so didn't take very long, but it was making her antsy.

"Why the rush," Cali asked while closing the exterior door and locking it up.

"I just hate being out away from the town at this time of night."

Cali just laughed mildly while getting a light scowl from Shira.

"…Sorry," he said between chuckles. She led him in the direction that she came from earlier that day. It was quiet and calm out, rather peaceful. They talked a bit on the walk, getting to know each other better.

"So, what kind of stuff do you like to work on?" Cali asked.

"Anything I can get my paws on. I love to tinker with stuff around the house and things like technology always make me question what else can be done. Though there are very few things that can be made now. We as a society have built almost everything that could be imagined."

"I have seen quite a few things that I am not used to seeing on my old planet, but I bet you have some ideas that could become great…" Cali stopped mid sentence and mid step hearing something in the distance in front of them.

"What?" Shira asked in worry.

"Shhh, listen." Cali silenced her as both of them listened to the noises in the distance.

"Those are bandits. They destroy and think that they rule the flat lands."

"Sounds like there are about 15 of them."

"That is the scout troop, but the rest of them are hidden amongst the rocky formations all around us."

"I understand now." Cali said. It dawned on him that this was her fear of the area at night. Cali kept walking, he waited to hear something else that would spark his interest. It only took a few steps. Cali dove sideways throwing Shira to the ground. "Zip," The sound of a bullet went whipping past them and it hit the ground only feet from where they had been standing.

"How fast can you run?" Cali asked getting up off of her.

"About 15 miles an hour." Cali grimaced and pulled her up.

"Get on my back and hold on." Shira complied and wrapped her arms around his neck. He took two steps and got his balance then started to run. In a fair fight he would have stood there and taken them, but when there was someone else to worry about and guns to boot, he knew that it would not be smart to stay. He started to run head on for the very people he would need to avoid.

"Is there another way around this bunch," Cali asked.

"Head through the little canyon on your right. It will guard us, though there may be bandits there."

"Better to take on one or two instead of 15 or 20." He said as he angled himself towards the rocky canyon. His arms were folded back trying to make a makeshift seat for her while she held on to his chest and neck. His strides rocking her up and down. She was getting a bit worried as his strides seemed more like leap then actual running. A single leap flung the both of them well over 40 feet, and he was no where near tired.

"Stop!" Shira yelled out and Cali complied. His feet coming only a few feet from an almost 100 foot straight drop into the canyon. He took a second and allowed her to slide out of his grip as she stood up.

"I wasn't quite expecting this." Cali said. He looked out and saw some rocky outcroppings that he could get to, but he wondered about her. "What now?"

"I don't quite know. The hole wasn't this large last week. We could go back around," she offered. An enticing offer it wasn't. Cali made a split second choice and grabber her up in his arms.  
"What the…" was all that Shira could say before she found herself in a semi-sitting position in his arms.

"Wrap your arms around my neck again." Cali swiftly demanded. Shira did so and felt the biggest rush of adrenaline that she had ever experienced. Both Shira and Cali as he held her, were airborne. Well they weren't so much airborne as they were falling into the deep chasm. She felt like she was lifting out of his arms right before a loud crunching noise could be heard from beneath his feet. She looked down and saw that the ground beneath them had been completely shattered by his feet and their weight. Her wonder was very short lived as he continued running through the canyon towards the slight cliff face about 3000 meters away. Reaching the target was no problem, but getting up it was. Or at least it seemed so for Shira. With a slight bend to his knees Cali lifted off and flew up the 30 foot wall and kicked up off the edge before finding himself standing firmly on the ground again.

"Shira, Where to now," He asked in a solid, stern voice.

"Around the bend and then to the left for about 200 meters or so, then we will be in town."

Town had never seemed so nice to her. The outskirts was where he stopped and let her down. She was rather speechless. They had been almost killed, and she had been on a ride that even crash landing a Star fighter couldn't hold a candle to.

"How in the world are we alive?" Shira said trying to get her balance. The adrenaline being sucked out of her system really took it out of her. Cali on the other hand stood straight up and took a deep breath. His body none the worse for the wear and his overall image shone with nothing but pure energy. He was just as calm as he had been when she first saw him. Or at least as calm as crazy can be.

"Are you alright," He asked looking at her as she wobbled slightly while resting her hands on her knees.

"Fine, just a bit out of it."

"Lets get you home then. Which way?" Within a few minutes they had arrived at the small house that she called home. The majority of the town was shut up quite tightly and all but a few lights were off. The door slowly opened as a tall chipmunk opened the door and rushed them in.

"Mr. Calen?" Cali said questioningly while being rushed into the house


	6. Meeting new friends

Chapter 6 Meeting New Friends

"Good to see you again my boy," Mr. Calen said pretty much pulling both him and Shira into the hallway of the house, the lights in the ceiling shining down a dim glow over the three occupants of the modest domicile.

"What happened? You know that you are not supposed to be out this late Shira."

"I know daddy, Sorry." Shira responded, showing signs that she was more of a child now then when she was with Cali.

"Please sir, don't be upset. She brought me the food and we ate after I did a bit more work." Cali tried to lighten the situation a bit, but it didn't seem to be working.

"Daddy, please, he is our guest for the night." Shira put her hand on his shoulder exposing something that she hadn't noticed before. A small trail of blood lead down her arm and stained the light red fur. Mr. Calen had noticed something else though, there was blood around his neck and on his hands.

"Did you hurt her," He just about screamed at Cali. He looked down at the stains on his hands and looked at her.

"I think I may have." Cali calmly said. He just couldn't think of anything to say, he may have as he threw her to the ground, or at anytime during the run home.

"GET OUT," Calen yelled. Cali easily complied, much to Shira's objections.

"DADDY! He didn't do anything to me..." Cali stopped her.

"Don't worry, I'll be alright." Cali stepped outside and Mr. Calen slammed the door on him. Some shouting could be heard coming from the house, but it quickly faded as Cali started walking through the town. It was OK, he didn't need to get into anyone else's problems when he still had his own. His family was probably wondering where he was. His walk led him to the edge of the small town, leaving him asking what he should do.

"Eh." he grunted walking on, "Whatever happens, happens." He was almost sure that he would run into the bandits again, but it would be easier to deal with them this time. He got as far as his ship without a peep from anything, which made him very happy. Inside the ship, however, was a different story. The door was open and he could hear the sounds of people coming from the inside. Quickly Cali took up position on the edge of the door and drew his pistol. The comparatively old weapon still ran on lead projectile technology, he had no clue how it would stand up to this planet's technology. With a quick breath he entered and cleared the room checking every square inch of it. He moved with a deftness that would put most military personal to shame. He lowered the weapon and stood still listening for where the sounds were coming from... the bridge. Stealth was useless here. His boots clanked loudly against the metal grate catwalks that made up the flooring of the ship. Just as he entered the hall that lead to the main deck, Cali heard someone call out to him.

"State your name and your business aboard this ship." The voice called out demanding an answer which stunned Cali.

"This is Calico Windrunner and I do believe that you are in my ship. I should be asking you these questions," Cali called back as he walked through the threshold of the bridge. His weapon down by his side. He felt that anyone who was that diplomatic sounding didn't warrant a full-on assault right away. To his surprise he was right. He looked over the balcony at the sight of five different people looking at the other entrance on the far side of the deck. Cali pulled his pistol out and placed it on the ledge that he was now leaning leisurely against.

"Bang," Cali called out, "And now one of you is in great pain if not completely incapable of breathing."

Everyone turned around to see him aiming his weapon at the ground only a few feet in front of them. Each of the five drew their weapons and trained them on his exposed head.

"Whoa, easy there, had I wanted to kill you all I would have done it by now." Cali slowly drew back his sidearm and placed it in the small holster on his side, " But now you know my name and I need to know yours."

A red fox stepped forward first and introduced the group, though anyone who had been on the planet more than a day would know this particular squad.

"I'm Fox McCloud and this is my wife Krystal," He said pointing to the blue vixen that stood to his right. To my left is my wingmen Falco Lombardi and Slippy Toad."

"What about him?" Cali asked pointing to an old looking hare that was sleeping in the command chair.

Krystal could not help but laugh at the sight, she hadn't even noticed that Peppy had sat down let alone fell asleep. Cali could not help but pay closer attention to Krystal then to anyone else, there was just something different about her.

"Forgive Peppy, he has gotten a bit lethargic in his age." Fox said turning to look back up at Cali. the almost 20 foot high room made Cali look as though he was only half his actual size.

"I will provided that you tell me why you are here."

"We are here to help you. We saw the crash and helped to off load your family." Krystal said calmly.

"You talk about them as if they were cargo and I don't find it entirely proper." Cali said with a slight snarl.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound that way. I just helped to move your family over to the hospital." Krystal said trying to amend her last statement.

"Watch your tone around her." Fox yelled.

"And what would you do about it, small one?" Cali said trying to push Fox's buttons.

"I'll show you..." Fox started to say before being held back by his wife.

"Don't do it honey, he has no intentions, he only wants his family protected. I'm not finding any true hatred in him." Krystal said in Fox's ear.

"Very good, at least someone down there has some sense, and apparently a sixth one at that." Cali speculated surprising all of them. There was a deep silence for a few moments only to be broken by the sound of Peppy starting to snore.

"Heh, he seems like the kind of person who always breaks up confrontations." Cali joked while pointing at Peppy. He slowly raised his arms off the banister that he was leaning on and walked over to the where the central dome in the roof was. The cables that he had been working on earlier that night were in just as much disarray as when he left.

"I don't mean to be inhospitable, but you are trespassing in my house, you pulled your weapons on me, which I see the Avian still is..." Cali said cocking his head sideways and looking straight at Falco. Fox quickly raised his hand up and pulled the blaster down, "...and I find your eldest member asleep in my chair. Not exactly the nicest sight after crashing, being held in a hospital and being shot at by bandits."

Krystal was the only one who hung her head a bit. She looked around and realized that this was a bit on the far side of messed up.

"Raise your head up, Blue one. It's alright. I'm not that much of a jerk." He said with a smile.

"Her name is Krystal." Fox snapped.

"My pardons, Krystal." He corrected himself. Cali finally reached the cable bunch that was hanging over the edge of the catwalk and down to the main floor. He grabbed the rope that was sitting on the nearby control panel. He hooked the metal clasp to the side of his belt and tossed the rope up over the poles that crossed the large dome. Once the rope was securely in his hand, he stepped up on the banister and hopped up towards the cable. He pulled himself up a bit and tied off the rope to another pole so that it would not allow him to fall.

"Do you need any help?" The small toad asked.

"Do you know anything about plasma power distributors?" Cali questioned, expecting Slippy to say no.

Fox sniggered a bit. "This is Slippy Toad your talking to here. If it's broken, he can fix it."

"Great then. I could use a bit of help on the main power system in the rear. Give me a minute to hook up the last of these wires and I'll show were it is."

--

After about ten minutes of checking out the system, Slippy knew what would be needed and would take care of it come the next week. With the weekend starting the entire capitol city was prepped for a celebration. Nothing would happen to the ship until the party was over. The team was headed outside to their ships when Krystal stopped and looked at Cali. He was back on the roof again trying to put all the wires back in the dome and shut them in.

"Do you want to get away from here for a little while? The city is nice at this time of night." She offered, with the both disapproving looks from Fox and the group agreement.

"Well if you can get me to the hospital first, I need to check on my family. And I only want to be brought by her." he said pointing at Krystal. "You'll have to forgive me, my affinity for names is like a vacuum cleaner, It just sucks."

Getting a small laugh from the group she agreed and they all headed out to the arwings outside.

"Hmmm. One seater's are going make it hard to transport anyone else." Cali said.

Don't worry, there's room, Fox and I have... Well it fits two anyway." Krystal quickly recovered before she let something slip that wasn't supposed to.

"Still, I don't Fox to think I'm trying to take his wife from him so I have an idea." Cali quickly jumped back and ran into the ship emerging a few moments later with what looked like a thin metal sheet and a piece of wire. He ran to the back of the Arwing and attached the wire to the tail section just below the exhaust port and ran about 30 or so feet back from it. He took a moment and layed out the gripping handle. With a flick of his wrist Cali flipped the sheet metal out into what looked like a oversize boomerang.

"There now, you can fly and I'll have some fun." Everyone just looked at Cali like he was totally out of his mind.

"I don't suggest that, these ships fly at over five G's that kind of pressure and speed would rip you apart." Fox said.

"You let me worry about that. Lets go." He said looking over at Krystal. She simply nodded and hopped into the cockpit. Within a few moments the engines had burst to life and the ship was starting to float off the ground for a moment before taking off. The rope quickly went taught and Cali took flight with it. Krystal was going slow but the fighter still pulled almost two G's. She looked into the view screen on her right and saw the image of Cali surfing on the wind. using the board to direct the flow of wind under him. Krystal searched for a moment before picking up his mental signature. He wasn't scared, so she just kept it going as she was. Fox and the rest of the group were flying beside and behind her to make sure that the wolf would not fall to his death given an accident. Cali was having far too much of a good time to think about those things though. He closed his eyes and smiled for a second. Krystal felt an immense wave of peace flow over her just before she could hear something.

"Krystal...Krystal can you hear me?"

"Cali?" She thought.

"Yeah, go faster." Cali said.

"Your a telepath too?"

"Go faster."

Krystal was shocked as she found herself picking up speed. Gradually at first Cali and Krystal could be seen moving away from the rest of the team. Then suddenly Krystal's Afterburners kicked in and they both shot away from the group like lightning.

"Krystal pull back, your going to kill him." Fox could be heard yelling over the radio.

"He wanted to go faster." She said. Fox caught up to her and looked at Cali for a moment. He was having a blast, the wind blew his fur straight back and his jacket was in shreds, but he didn't care. With a light smile Cali waved at Fox. Fox just couldn't understand how this wolf could do all this. It would take an immense amount of strength to do something like that, not to mention it had to be really cold and there was little oxygen at that height and those speeds. With a minor shift of his feet Cali flew up high over the top of Krystal's ship seeing the sights of the city just beyond the lake that they were about to cross over. It took only a minute for Cali to make up his mind on what he was going to do. Fox watched as Cali slowly started to back away from the ship he was tethered to. The horror hit Fox as he noticed that Cali was no longer holding the rope and had begun his decent.

"Krystal... He let go." Fox yelled, causing her to slam on her air brakes and pull her control stick back to a level position. Fox had already gone down to try and get him along with Peppy and Falco. Krystal could do nothing though. She wouldn't have enough time to get to him. She was again washed over with a wonderful sensation.

"Don't worry about me. I let go on purpose. I'll meet you all down on the surface." Cali said in Krystal's mind. He could still be seen with a smile on his face as he lowered closer and closer to the water down below. The rest of the team had been scrambling to try and save him, but they were too far back to be of any good. Krystal motioned the control stick forward and held on as her ship flew downwards to where the she thought Cali would land. Cali by this time was only about 40 feet off the water and he braced himself for the impact. His board hit the water and skipped across it like a smooth stone. With a few more jumps it came to a slow halt about thirty feet or so from the shore. They all watched as he lost his balance at the last second and sunk like a rock in the water. Within a mere minute, he had emerged from the lake, soaking wet and with the same smile on his face that he had earlier.

"What a rush!" He yelled. The entire team was hopping, one after another, out of their arwings and walking towards the shore. Cali could be seen still half emerged in the water with his toy above his head. This was one crazy wolf and there was something that each one of them saw in him. Fox thought about what this wolf might become. He could be valuable. He could be...


End file.
